Ian McCarthy, the chief executive officer of Atlanta-based homebuilder Beazer Homes, will pay back $6.5 million in bonus pay and stock profits to settle an SEC complaint brought against him under the clawback provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. It is the latest settlement against an executive who wasn't charged in the fraud that prompted the clawback.

Finally some good news: Compliance and ethics professionals are feeling more optimistic about their resources and job security in 2011, according to a new survey. Nearly half of respondents said they expect their budgets to increase this year, while just 12 percent expect a decline. More survey results inside.

Proxy season is here again and shareholder advisory votes on executive compensation are the main focus at many companies. But plenty of other issues can trip up boards and management, too. "A lot of activists are re-tooling their campaigns to go after Dodd-Frank [Act] leftovers," says Patrick McGurn of Institutional Shareholder Services.

The vast majority of companies so far have gotten the thumbs up from investors on their pay plans, but getting investors to approve a biennial or triennial say-on-pay vote frequency is proving a tougher sell, early voting results show.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is set to take up four items on its Dodd-Frank Act rulemaking agenda this week, including a proposal to limit risky incentive pay practices by financial firms and new rules on derivatives clearinghouses and the use of credit ratings in SEC filings.

A ruling from the National Labor Relations Board against a Connecticut company that fired an employee for an unflattering Facebook post could have broad ramifications for companies' social media policies. Employers need to "review all of their policies for any vague or overly broad language," says Seth Borden a partner at McKenna Long & Aldridge.

2010 was a busy year for M&A activity and for antitrust enforcers who are on the lookout for deals that squelch competition; the number of transactions reviewed by antitrust agencies last year jumped 63 percent. The Federal Trade Commission ended up challenging 22 of them.

Compliance officers struggling to manage the current avalanche of regulatory changes may be interested in how some of their counterparts in the financial services industry are spending their time these days.